Freestyle Snobs?

My understanding is that in Europe historically swim races were done exclusively doing breaststroke. Front crawl/Trudgen style was brought to Europe in the 1800s and was much faster. This made breaststrokers upset so they started doing freestyle and breaststroke events separately. In the late 1920s someone realized since the pull requirement in the rules of breaststroke only required symmetric arms it was faster to do a butterfly pull. This again made the breaststrokers upset so in 1952 they made a distinction between fly and breaststroke. So breaststrokers are mostly to blame for having to swim so many strokes. I'm not sure about how backstroke races came about although they came to the Olympics in 1900 vs 1904 for breaststroke.

Because variety is fun. I've always enjoyed working on all four strokes and the intricacies of each. I'm not sure if I'd have gotten back in the pool when I started Masters if it was just all freestyle all the time. Same here - it's just fun. I grew up swimming, have always been very comfortable in the water, and there's many ways to move in the water besides just going from A to B super fast. I always liked butterfly as a child because it made me feel like I was an orca chasing down seals.

Do you swim with a team & coach? If you only want to swim free then swim alone 'cuz our team coach requires all to learn 4 strokes. I swam with masters teams for many years. While the coach assigned stroke sets, I can't recall a single instance when they gave a swimmer a tough time for substituting in something else (other than the usual ribbing). Someone could have a myriad of reasons why they can't do a particular set (injury, tapering come to mind right away). I've never been much of a butterflier (I can do a 25, on a good day a 50, but not more than that continuous). I would often substitute in *** when the coach assigned long fly sets. That said, and I'm also mostly a distance freestyler... I have a rule that at least 10% of my workout is non-free. Some days I do more than 20% non-free, but others it is just over 10%. That seems like a reasonable goal for me. Typically I do a long warm-up, with a bunch of 75 free/25 stroke mixed in. I do something similar during my warm-down. I'll often do some *** and/or back-specific sets (I'm supposed to swim the 200 *** at nationals :afraid:)

before I joined a masters team, I was primarily swimming freestyle. But once I joined masters, I started learning how to swim the other strokes just because I didn't want to mess up with my lane's "flow". I started liking it, especially when I feel my arms are getting too tired doing the same motion over and over again. It's good to switch to another stroke just to keep moving when I'm swimming solo. I found that I really like backstroke. Its basically freestyle on your back and you don't have to worry about breathing! Also, I read somewhere that you can build a better endurance if you swim different strokes. So why not... What I really want to know is why isn't the double arm back one of the official strokes. I've been told that I have the fastest double arm back in the team. Just saying...

What I really want to know is why isn't the double arm back one of the official strokes. I've been told that I have the fastest double arm back in the team. Just saying... Double arm backstroke is just as official as "standard" backstroke. Per the rules, just about anything goes in backstroke as long as you are on your back. If double arm is faster for you, go for it. I have seen it used in meets, once I did it in a meet to see if it was faster(my normal backstroke is so slow that I need to notify the officials to have a calendar watch to time me.)

Double arm backstroke is just as official as "standard" backstroke. Per the rules, just about anything goes in backstroke as long as you are on your back. If double arm is faster for you, go for it. I have seen it used in meets, once I did it in a meet to see if it was faster(my normal backstroke is so slow that I need to notify the officials to have a calendar watch to time me.) :lmao: That reminds me of a meet I was at last year. One of my teammates (the slowest swimmer in her age group with the worst technique in the country), seems to enjoy entering all of the longest events, which has caused a tremendous delay in our meets. The official (who we consider a friend), casually walked by Bruce while he was officiating her event and said (while pointing to this swimmer), "That is why officials no longer use starting guns!" :D

As someone who mainly likes and does distance free, the others are nice to break things up a bit and use different muscles. I'm not a fan of *** at all, but tolerate it on occasion - which is to say, I do it like some of the bobbers/noodlers. I prefer the term "aficionado" or "specialist" to "snob" :)

Double arm backstroke is just as official as "standard" backstroke. Per the rules, just about anything goes in backstroke as long as you are on your back. If double arm is faster for you, go for it. I have seen it used in meets, once I did it in a meet to see if it was faster(my normal backstroke is so slow that I need to notify the officials to have a calendar watch to time me.) To add to this I think there is a point, maybe around 80-85 years old, where double arm becomes faster for many people.

You work different muscle groups with the different strokes. And I would be inclined to bet that your cardio conditioning is enhanced by the variety, as well. Besides, my fly is actually faster than my free, at least for short distances.

Do you swim with a team & coach? If you only want to swim free then swim alone 'cuz our team coach requires all to learn 4 strokes.